Reflections on Organizing D&D and Community Involvement

My time as an admin is coming to an end. In that time I want to reflect on a few things. In this short article, I’ll talk about organizing for D&D and participating in the community.

Southern California DMs

Organizing

We need DMs to continue to grow this hobby. DM’s are usually the organizer for their groups, they’re usually the ones with the impetus to get things rolling, to get a group together and to find the location to play at. This isn’t always the case, many players are the organizer for their groups, but in general it’s the Dungeon Master. Thank you to all the Dungeon Master’s out there. Without them to organize and run the game this hobby would die. But what happens when the DM needs to step away for personal or professional reasons? Then it’s up to a player to continue to organize or to step up even more and become the DM. We’ll always need DMs and I encourage all of you players reading this to take a stab at DMing, you may like it. Personally, I find a million times more joy in DMing than I do in playing, you may too.

While DMs primarily organize in home games public locations need organizers too. These store and con organizers wrangle DMs and setup signups usually with the help of places like Meetup.com, Warhorn.net or online with ALOnlinetools.net. Store and event organizers are vital to getting event participants playing D&D and bringing in new blood to the game. Thank you to all the store and convention organizers. I’ve been an organizer for several cons and I know what an often thankless yet rewarding job it can be. Players and DMs, please thank your event organizers. If you’re interested in organizing spend time at your local store and attending local events. Once you’ve gone and experienced it, contact the organizers to help out. There’s no better way to become involved in your local community than organizing games.

Community

Our community expands beyond our local community to our online community and we’re able to reach our global players. It’s been such an amazing experience to speak and game with players from around the globe and see how our great hobby is received and played by people from all over the world. If you enjoy interacting with others online I encourage you to join one of our D&D AL groups on Facebook or Google Plus and by following the #DnDAL hashtag on twitter. In addition to our official communities, there are private, local and regional groups on Facebook and Google Plus, several public Facebook groups such as the Magic Item Trading group and the Moonsea Pub online game finding group. There are also a couple of Discord servers that are run by fans. All of these are great places to get involved. DM’s you can find help from other DMs in our DMs Group on FB and G+

When you join these communities as a fan reach out, answer questions with thoughtful answers. Please don’t be flippant with your answers, often times a joking reply can seem sarcastic or mean and can throw off new members of these communities. Please answer with a teachers mind. Help your fellow community members to learn how to find the answers so they can answer questions for themselves and others later with confidence. Take care of each other and support each other. When needed, contact the group admins and report malicious replies, they can’t be everywhere and will appreciate the help. Remember to follow the Code of Conduct anywhere you’re discussing or participating in AL conversations, whether you’re online or in person.

We can only grow our communities by offering support to others. Communities are meant to be places that offer enjoyment and knowledge, are you offering that? Are you helping to build the place you want to be part of?

The D&D Adventurers League has always been a great community and I’m proud to be a member. Keep up the good work, be kind and encouraging to each other, but most of all, have fun playing D&D!

Robert Adducci is an RPG community organizer and helps out games stores and conventions in the Denver area with social media and community management. He is a die-hard Dark Sun fan and the founder of the Burnt World of Athas website (Athas.org). Robert was born in the deserts of Athas, aka Phoenix, AZ, but now lives in the cool climate of Colorado with his wife, two little adventurers, and two animal companions.

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Robert Adducci is an RPG community organizer and helps out games stores and conventions in the Denver area with social media and community management. He is a die-hard Dark Sun fan and the founder of the Burnt World of Athas website (Athas.org). Robert was born in the deserts of Athas, aka Phoenix, AZ, but now lives in the cool climate of Colorado with his wife, two little adventurers, and two animal companions.